


Drinking Buddies

by wackyjacqs



Series: Bizarre Holidays [56]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 06:09:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17913281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wackyjacqs/pseuds/wackyjacqs
Summary: There are three potential suitors. One who is engrossed in the basketball game showing on the screen above his head, one who is staring a little too lecherously for her liking, and one who is turned away from her, his attention seemingly on the game of pool underway in the far corner of the bar. And he’s the one Sam’s drawn to.





	Drinking Buddies

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ‘World Bartender Day’ (24 February). 
> 
> I’m just going to be completely honest; I don’t know if this is meant to be an alternate reality offering, or a completely AU scenario...

_February 24, 1996_  
_Washington D.C._

“A Martinez, ma’am.”

Sam purses her lips as she stares unconvincingly at the drink. She’s never had a Martinez in her life, nor does she want to start now, so she looks up and sees Cam Mitchell standing behind the bar smirking.

She likes Mitchell, but she doesn’t care for his amusement at this precise moment in time. The two of them have known each other for years and became good friends, having gone through the Academy together. But then Cam had been medically discharged and, after one too many drinks one night deciding what he was going to do next with his life, he ended up buying a bar in the city. The decision, however, actually worked out in his favor as it soon became a regular spot for many of the military officers visiting, or stationed, in and around the area.

“From the gentleman over by the pool table. Red shirt,” he murmurs as he moves to the other end of the bar to serve another customer.

She smiles half-heartedly at his tip-off and is once again thankful that her friend owns the bar. With as much casualness as she can muster, Sam lets her gaze wander around the crowded bar until her eyes land on her latest admirer. He’s young and kind of attractive, she thinks, but not her type, so when he winks at her, she smiles tightly before turning back to the drink he’s bought her and catches Cam’s attention. When he joins her moments later, she just shakes her head and for the fifth time that evening, wordlessly pushes the drink back across the bar. She hears him mutter something along the lines of ‘zero for five’ as he walks away, and resists the urge to roll her eyes.

It’s not her fault that it’s the fifth guy she’s turned down in the space of two hours. She isn’t even looking to pick up a guy. If anything, she doesn’t want to see _any_ man right now. Her broken engagement to Jonas Hanson is still fresh but Mitchell had somehow managed to convince her to leave her apartment and celebrate her newfound freedom. So, here she is – and hating every second.

Or rather, she’s hating the attention she is on the receiving end of. The freedom from her former fiancé, however? No. She is enjoying that new aspect of her life very much, thank you.

“So, what was wrong with him?” Cam asks as he leans on the counter.

“Not my type,” she shrugs.

“He seems a nice guy,” he offers.

“Probably is,” she agrees. “But I’m not interested.”

A bottle of beer suddenly appears in her line of sight and she raises a brow.

“No admirer,” he smiles. “Just a friend who looks like she needs another drink.”

She reaches for the bottle with a snort of amusement and takes a healthy swig. She actually hasn’t had that much to drink, but she briefly wonders how much it would take for her to get drunk, even though she knows Cam would cut her off before she was too far gone.

And it’s not like she tries to forget about her troubles with alcohol, but she’s just in one of those moods where she wants to get a little lost in the noise and the lights and finally move on from Jonas. She feels like if she can do that, then she can finally break free and start afresh, leaving behind the scars he’s tried to impress on her heart and mind.

As she weighs up the pros and cons of getting drunk, the sound of a glass hitting the bar top draws her attention and she glances down to see another drink.

She rests an elbow on the counter and props her chin up on her hand.

“Double shot of whiskey,” Cam supplies. “From the older man at the end of the bar.”

Sam bites back a sigh. She’s had enough dealings with some of the “older men” at The Pentagon to know that she does _not_ want to spend any of her evening in that kind of company, but she decides to humor them and glances down the end of the bar.

There are three potential suitors. One who is engrossed in the basketball game showing on the screen above his head, one who is staring a little too lecherously for her liking, and one who is turned away from her, his attention seemingly on the game of pool underway in the far corner of the bar. And he’s the one she’s drawn to.

“Leather jacket,” she hears Cam whisper and she involuntarily straightens on the bar stool.

It turns out to be the third guy and Sam lets out a breath she doesn’t realize she’s been holding. She can’t see the man’s profile from where she sits but there is something about him that makes Sam want to know more.

“Mitchell,” she calls. “Give me another one of those,” she says gesturing to the whiskey, her eyes never leaving the mystery man.

Even though she can’t see his face, instinct tells her that he’s military. Black Ops, she deduces and she wonders about the wisdom of approaching the stranger given her previous relationship, but before she can talk herself out of it, she grabs both drinks in her left hand, slides off the bar stool and makes her way towards him. He’s still looking at the far corner of the bar, pretending not to be paying attention to her, so with her free hand, Sam grabs the back of the stool and swivels him towards her. She resists the urge to smirk when his knee knocks against hers, stopping the momentum and a flash of surprise shows in his eyes before he carefully schools his features.

“Can I help you?” He asks.

“You tell me.”

Again, something she can’t quite decipher appears in his expression, just for a second, and then it’s gone.

“Come again?”

“Do you always buy a girl a drink and then expect her to drink alone?”

His attention drifts to the two glasses of whiskey she holds in the air before he meets her gaze.

“Who said it was me?”

“I just know.”

A smirk slowly tugs at the corner of his mouth and Sam suddenly finds it a little harder to breathe. “Really?”

She nods and the stranger leans in a little closer. His voice a little lower, a little huskier when he speaks.

“So, it has nothing to do with the fact that your little bartender friend has been feeding you info all night?”

Sam can feel herself flush, but whether it’s because he’s caught her lying or because she’s realizing that he’s been watching her for a while, she isn’t quite sure. All she does know is that the satisfied smirk he’s now giving her fills her with a warmth and gives her a buzz in a way the alcohol hasn’t.

“How’d you know I’d want a whiskey?” She asks instead.

“Because I imagine it’s what you’d have been ordering next if one more poor guy had tried to chat you up.”

“Isn’t that what you’re doing?”

“That depends,” he offers, shifting on the stool slightly. “You’re actually talking to me. I’d say that’s a point in my favor.”

Sam can’t help the laugh that escapes and she regards him thoughtfully for a moment before she presses one of the glasses into his hand. Without breaking the stare, she taps her glass against his and they both down their drink. She can feel his eyes on her as she gestures to Cam for another round, right before she hops onto the free stool to his left.

“So,” he says casually as he rests his elbows on the counter. “Does this mean it’s one for six now?”

“That depends,” Sam shrugs as she discovers he really has been keeping tabs on her and Cam all night. “I haven’t made my mind up yet.”

She grins as she turns slightly to look at him and notices his brown hair and tanned skin and she can’t deny the fact that he’s really, really handsome. But it’s his eyes that captivate her. They’re dark brown and warm and mysterious and she feels like they could hold the secrets of the universe.

His knee lightly jostles her out of her reverie and she slides a whiskey in his direction.

“I’m Jack,” he offers with a grin.

She takes his outstretched hand. “Sam.”

Jack nods once before he lifts his glass and cants it towards her. “Well, _Samantha_ , it’s nice to meet you.”

She tries to ignore the way her name sounds as it rolls off his tongue, but if the look in his eye is anything to go by, she reckons she’s failing miserably. Instead, she picks up her own drink and smiles.

“Ya sure, you betcha, Jack.”

**Author's Note:**

> I have absolutely no idea.


End file.
